Christmas at Cotehele & Buckland Abbey

Every year Cotehele’s gardeners build a 60-foot garland from thousands of flowers grown in the cut flower garden. Until Sunday 7 January, you can see this year’s garland in all its glory in the Great Hall, as well as the kitchen and Victorian library dressed for Christmas. Follow the festive lights along the stream to find Cotehele Mill tucked within the Morden Valley, and decorated in traditional Victorian style. Head to the first floor for toys to play with, costumes to try on and craft activities to complete. Cotehele Mill is open on 2, 3, 9 and 10 December and then daily from Saturday 16 December to Monday 1 January (closed 25 & 26 December). Warm up after your festive adventures with a delicious hot chocolate from the Barn Restaurant or The Edgcumbe at the Quay, and find Christmas essentials in our shop. Visit the Bull Pen Gallery for unique gifts lovingly made by artists and makers from across the West Country and beyond. Find out more and plan your festive day out at nationaltrust.org.uk/cotehele

This Christmas at Buckland Abbey we invite everyone to step back in time into our Great Tudor Frost Fair! This display is inspired by the incredibly cold winters in the 16^th and 17^th centuries that led to rivers freezing over for weeks at a time, allowing people to set up stalls and festivities. The Great Barn will be filled with Christmas trees covered in lights, and frosty toned floors emphasising the illusion of walking on a frozen river, while wooden market stalls and displays will give visitors plenty of opportunities to learn about the history of these fairs. Our volunteers have been decking out the abbey with frosty Christmas trees as well, and putting a festive stamp on each room, all of which will be themed with its own type of winter weather. On the afternoons of 9, 10, 19 and 21 December there will also be Christmas storytelling in the abbey. Buckland Abbey’s Great Tudor Frost Fair opens from Saturday 2 to Sunday 31 December, 10am – 4pm, and the abbey opens from 11am – 3:30pm (closed 25 & 26 December). See nationaltrust.org.uk/bucklandabbey